Echoes ~ (Book Two of The Elite Series)

Chapter 10

"Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" Newt glanced around warily at all the men following them, subtly trying to pull Emma closer.

"Let's just hear him out. See what he has to say," Thomas assured them, though that didn't make anybody else feel better about their current situation.

"Jorge, they're here."

"Quiet." A man had his back to them, listening intently to something through his headphones. Slamming them down, the signal was lost in static. "Damn it."

Emma assumed that this was Jorge.
Standing up, he turned to face the group of teens, hands on his hips.

"Do you ever get the feeling the whole world's against you?"
Thomas and Minho exchanged semi-confused glances.

Seriously? What was up with this guy?

"Three questions. Where did you come from? Where are you going? How, can I profit?" He paused. "Don't all answer at once."
The man poured himself a drink of water from a fancy looking container.
Emma narrowed her eyes, having a strong suspicion of what he was doing.

Jorge, knowing that the teens most likely hadn't had water in at least a day or more (which they hadn't) was using the presence of it to try and subtly coerce them into talking.

Thomas swallowed, eyeing the container of water, licking his dry lips.
"We're headed for the mountains. Looking for the Right Arm."

Scattered laughter came from the men around them.

"You're looking for ghosts, you mean," Jorge countered, drinking some of his water. "Question number two. Where did you come from?"

Of course that's when Minho had to open his smart mouth.
"That's our business."

Apparently Minho's answer didn't sit well with Jorge, who subtly tipped his head to his men, and before Emma knew it she was being forced to bend over, along with Thomas and Minho.

"Hey! Get the hell off me! Get the hell off me, man!"

"Don't you bloody touch her!"
Newt lunged at the man who pulled Emma away, but he was slugged in the stomach instead, falling to the ground in pain.

"Leave him alone you bloody slinthead! I'm going to kill you!"
Emma snarled, trying to rip herself out of the man's hold.

"Shut up, you big babies," the girl sighed, running some kind of scanner over the back of Thomas's neck, The man who was holding Emma down attempted to scan her but with no luck.
"Scanners not picking up anything on this one," the man announced.

"What is that?!" Thomas asked.

"You were right," the girl said, giving her scanner over to Jorge, before coming over to where Emma still knelt. "Let me try," the girl ordered, the man stepping back in a huff. Running the scanner down Emma's neck, there was still nothing.

"Right about what? What is she talking about?"

Just when Emma thought she was cleared to go, she heard a sharp intake of breath, and someone touching the skin by her left ear, brushing away a stand of hair that had come loose from Emma's bun.

"Jorge, come look at this," the girl insisted, the man coming over, taking some bifocals from his vest pocket and putting them on.
His eyebrows rose, and he picked his glasses, before going to stand at the front again.
"Its just a mark. It doesn't mean anything," Emma tried, dread rising in her chest.

"Actually hermana.....looks like you are an Elite. Yourself and your friends are tagged. Which means.....you came from WCKD. Making all of you,  but more especially you....." he ran a finger under her chin, and Emma had to suppress a strong urge to bite it. "......very, valuable. I've never had the pleasure of turning in an Elite, but there's always a first time for everything."